MUM has come a long way since the summer of 1974, when a long line of yellow buses pulled into Fairfield, full of young Transcendental Meditation practitioners determined to build a university based on the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

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“The Maharishi University of Management now offers B.A.’s in 13 fields, among them Vedic science and sustainable living. With students riding bikes and plugged into iPods, it looks like any other college campus, except for twin gold-domed buildings where practitioners gather to meditate twice a day.

“Fairfield could stand as a case study from The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida’s book on the link between educated populations and economic development. Fairfield got the one when the college opened its golden domes, drawing accomplished people who saw its sweetness; it got the other when they started dreaming up ways to stay. ‘Everyone who arrived had to reinvent themselves to survive,’ said mayor (and meditator) Ed Malloy.”

Indeed, innovation is one of the biggest hallmarks of Fairfield. From dot-coms to art galleries, organic dairies, art movie houses, and the town’s solar-powered radio station, KRUU-FM, Fairfield is a hive of entrepreneurial activity.

There’s no shortage of creativity on tap in this town, and the award-winning Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment (MSAE) has it in spades. Like MUM, Maharishi School was founded on principles of Consciousness-BasedSM education, which combines rigorous academics with a unique curriculum that connects each part of knowledge to the entire subject and the deepest level of themselves.

“The fact is Consciousness-Based education produces unprecedented educational outcomes—in academics, in the arts, in creative problem solving, in sports, and in the development of good citizenship,” says Ashley Deans, Director at MSAE. “For example, here at Maharishi School Upper School grades consistently score in the top one percent on national standardized tests, and the School has won over 100 state, national, and international championships in the past decade.”

In addition to a traditional academic curriculum, both Maharishi School and Maharishi University offer education in environmental sustainability and the harmonious building principles of Maharishi VedicSM architecture. Walk through Fairfield, and you’ll see numerous examples of residences and professional buildings designed according with these parameters in mind.